Movies

Every once in a while a movie comes along that makes you remember that summer flicks don’t have to be brainless to kick your ass. Last year it was The Dark Knight, this year, it’s the blood-splattered alien movie District 9, which was produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings). It’s action-packed, smart and original—an instant classic. If there’s any justice in the world, it will get an audience as big as G.I. Joe’s.

I know, I know. I'm completely obsessed with Avatar, a movie that doesn't even have a trailer out.

But that's about to change, in a big way. Come Monday, those of us who eat up every little announcement about the movie will get a chance to see a 16-minute 3-D trailer at 101 IMAX theaters on Aug. 21, the first of its kind. Geek alert!

Free tickets to the trailer will be given out online. It's not exactly clear how just yet, but check Avatarmovie.com for updates between now and Monday.

Yes, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is worse than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and yes, I know that probably won’t stop a lot of you and legions of 12-year-old boys from seeing it. But I’ll give it a try anyway.

Check out this kick ass new Avatar poster featuring Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, the leader of the blue-skinned, cat-like E.T.s, the Na'vi, in Avatar. Gorgeous—and even better, it's the second movie poster featuring her this year. Remember she had her own Star Trek poster? Zoe is quickly becoming a sci-fi queen. Can't wait for the movie, which also stars Michelle Rodriguez and Laz Alonso, to come out in December.

If you’re a fan of Judd Apatow movies (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up), you’re used to a rarity in Hollywood: a comedy that lasts more than two hours, which leaves Apatow time for funny, offbeat bits that would probably end up on the cutting room floor on your typical 90-minute formulaic comedy. Those little digressions usually work and usually don’t weigh down the movie, but in Funny People, Apatow really pushes his luck.

For a minute there, it looked as if summer rain would wreak havoc on the event, but then Benjamin Bratt walked up to the New York International Latino Film Festival yesterday afternoon like a big, hot ray of sunshine and not a drop fell from the gray skies. Nope, all the havoc came from the red carpet scene itself outside the School of Visual Arts Theater on 23rd Street and 8th Avenue as La Mission, the film starring Bratt and directed by his brother Peter, opened the festival's 10th-anniversary edition.

It’ll be seven days of wall-to-wall Latino talent. The New York International Latino Film Festival is back for its 10th anniversary starting tomorrow night—and among the stars expected to walk the red carpet and mingle with film lovers are John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt, Christina Milian and Vin Diesel. But celeb-spotting aside, you’ll want to go for the films, which present one of the best opportunities to see our gente in action. Here are the five-must see features and documentaries.

You watch a movie like Orphan, in which the lead character—who kills, tries to seduce a man and curses like a sailor and expertly manipulates people—is played by a kid, and you have to wonder the effect on the child actor. Will the experience alter her entire life, like The Exorcist did Linda Blair’s? Will she grow up completely twisted?

Does anyone over 16 remember where we left off in the Harry Potter movies? It's been two years since the last one and I confess that when I sat down to watch it, I had no idea what was supposed to happen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (good thing that the movie lasts almost two-and-a-half hours, I guess, which gives you enough time during the lulls to remember details).